Digital project ENTR celebrates first anniversary

What's next? / Et après? / Was jetzt? / Ce urmează? / I co dalej? / E agora? 

With a target group of Europeans aged 18 to 34 years, it is particularly successful on Instagram. In February 2022 alone, ENTR's videos on its own accounts and partner pages have reached more than 6.3 million page and video views in the six project languages (English, French, German, Romanian, Polish and Portuguese). 

The war in Ukraine is now a dominant topic worldwide. As a platform for young people in Europe, ENTR takes a closer look at the larger context and history of the conflict and lets young people have their say. Videos on the war in Ukraine include a timeline of events, a video diary of a refugee fleeing the country and Ukrainian women and their hopes for the future. In the coming weeks, ENTR will continue to give young people a voice on the topic, with overarching themes like democracy, propaganda and peace in Europe. ENTR reports also cover climate, education, culture, gender equality and more. The content is produced or adapted for each of the project languages.

"Dreams and goals for the future, civic engagement, mental health – one year in, ENTR has more than managed to fulfill its own claim: To be an inclusive European platform for young people to discuss and share their perspectives on what matters most to them," says DW Director General Peter Limbourg. "Collaborating with media organizations from six countries gives us the unique opportunity to exchange our expertise and to reach our young audience."

Promoting European youth exchange

ENTR is funded by the European Union and the German Foreign Office. The media initiative aims at promoting European youth exchange and heightening awareness around a common identity while also highlighting the abundance of different perspectives across Europe.

Focusing on a constructive approach, ENTR provides high quality journalistic content. It builds on a longstanding cooperation between Deutsche Welle and France Médias Monde. The project's international editorial teams can rely on both international groups' infrastructure and resources as well as on the diversity and skills of its European partners. At DW, the Polish and Romanian editorial teams support the ENTR team with their expertise in the respective countries, in addition to support from many specialist departments at DW.

"We very much value the renewed support of the European Commission and the German Foreign Office for this ambitious project. The new partner Are We Europe and the English TikTok channel we will launch soon brings the project closer to be a comprehensive journalistic social media offer for young Europeans," says ENTR Project Director Patrick Leusch, Deutsche Welle on the future of ENTR.

Patrick Große, new ENTR Head of Content: "For a year now, our pan-European editorial team has been working across national borders in a spirit of trust. The journalists from six countries exchange ideas on a daily basis in order to set topics and produce content together. In the second year of the project, we want to further deepen our cooperation – always with the aim of connecting young people in Europe and stimulating discussions."

Lukas Hansen is ENTR's new Editorial Lead German/English. "The full-scale war in Ukraine has shown us all that fostering and living in a functioning, friendly European community is a privilege, as well as a responsibility: to be compassionate, to accept differences, and to build bridges. ENTR is our way of meeting this responsibility," says Hansen.